RDXI Ep 4 - OFFICER RIMMER - DISCUSSION THREAD

Haha, the Pacman part was the best joke of the episode, second only this series to the "Bing-Bong!" joke in ep 2.

Good episode, Loved the Rimmer corridor, Rimmer club, all the rimmers, overall eight on ten.

In a way after the Character development Rimmer got in the last ep of series 10, it's a shame to see him revert to classic Rimmer, but I guess a well-rounded non-bitter Rimmer does nothing for the comedic value of the series, so for eps like this I can overlook it.
Hopefully it'll get referenced later on in the year though.

Minor Criticism, why did we need to hear from a new lift voice so soon after the last one?
Wouldn't it have been better for continuity for it to be the same lift as last ep?

I thought this was such a funny episode, I was laughing pretty much the whole way through. Rimmer's smugness (and full-on b*****d-ness), the mishaps with the printer, the multiple Rimmers' in the captain's office and the general disdain/apathy of Lister, Kryten and the Cat were all gold. I know the idea of multiple Rimmers' isn't a new one, but this episode felt thoroughly different to the likes of Me² and Rimmerworld. And truth be told, I preferred Officer Rimmer to the both of them.

Also, I really loved the darker elements to the story as well. Rimmer trying to destroy the other ship to protect himself and the crew was cold, but it wasn't played for laughs (which made the moment more profound for me)... And then there was the Rimmer Monster! As a big fan of The Fly, the emergence of the Rimmer Monster reminded me somewhat of the end of that movie. Totally horrific, and I think one of the scariest visuals Red Dwarf has pulled. And what about that ending? I've said about every episode in XI so far that the climaxes have felt rushed or something like that, but in this case it was, I dunno, it just came across very dramatic. Lister telling the Rimmer Monster he was going to kill it and then the episode cutting off just has the bazookoid went off is going down as one of my favourite ever endings to ANY television episode, let alone RD.

Coming off from watching this after the 9pm broadcast made me feel excited. I sort of only get that vibe from watching the occasional episode of shows like Luther or The Walking Dead. Don't get me wrong, Red Dwarf is the show I've loved since I was kid, but I missed the "peak" of the show in its original run (my first memory of RD is from one of the Back in the Red episodes), so I never thought I'd be able to watch an episode of Red Dwarf 'live' as it were and feel the buzz of watching something truly special right as it hit the screens... but it's happened with Series XI, namely with this episode. I can't get over how much I loved this episode.

My rating: 8.5 out of 10. I want to give it a 9, but I'm leaving scope in the hope that Krysis or Can of Worms may well be better than this. It's fine if they aren't, but if they are, wow.

This was one of my favourite episodes of Red Dwarf ever, but enough gushing, I'll shut up now. ops:

I loved how silly it was, it was the right kind of silly and not overcooked like some of series VIII. This was silly done right, and I like it but hope that this is the only episode that gets this silly, beca use I like how the series usually holds itself together as being set in a serious setting with jokes I didn't feel the impending danger where Rimmer was trying to get through the door and when he did get through they didn't close the door or look relieved that the danger was over so the lack of impending doom was confirmed, so Rimmer demoting himself to get through the door was pointless. Apart from that, and obviously the ending, I thought it was a top episode and everything so far ranks high in my top episodes list! Brilliant jokes and great ideas done well, what's not to love?

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I thought the ending was quite tense, which is probably why the ending worked for me. I get what everyone's saying about it though being rushed. I have a feeling if the climaxes of the other episodes this series had been more rounded/traditional, then the way Officer Rimmer ended would have stood out in a unique way and more people would have liked it. Maybe.

I enjoyed this episode. I had reservations about another multiple Rimmer episode, but the way it was dealt with worked well. The concept of bioprinting was great and played to decent comedy effect. (Or should that be 'affect'?)

I do find Rimmer is smug powertrip mode grating , but I think he is supposed to be. I'm glad that section of the episode didn't outstay its welcome though, and it had some very amusing scenes.

Concerning the abrupt ending, I'm not surprised many here disliked it. At the point when it happened my first reaction, was "is that it?" But then I thought about the preceding gag, and I thought, "yes, why not".

"Don't forget to write down the last thing you'll be doing."
"What's the last thing I'll be doing?"
"Dying!"
KABLAM!
It's cold outside.. etc.

A perfect exclamation mark to a nice cinematic punchline. The episode was wrapped up, so why continue?

I guess a revenge scene at the end with Rimmer being trapped in a room with a barbershop quartet of Listers singing "Smeg head, smeg head, smeg head, smeg head, smeg head, smeeeg!" might have been amusing.

Before I gave my initial view of this episode I watched it again - my opinion has certainly changed second time around.

In all the years that I've been a fan I don't think I have once criticised #RedDwarf I've kept quiet when its come to series seven, eight and Back To Earth, as I really enjoyed these series and NO its not just because of the red glossy pvc worn by Kochanski (and I guess since I bought Kochanski up, heck I'll also mention Pete Transters sister) I digress, yes there are things I do notice from a continuity standpoint, the reflection of the Camera & operator in Talkie Toaster from Future Echoes.

Anyways, on my first viewing of Officer Rimmer a number of things I noticed, first of all, I know that Doug said that this series cost less (I think) than series 10 and my goodness the visual effects shots are stunning, theres one scene with Starbug flying past Camera and it looked like something out of Star Wars, that was an impressive shot.

There was a line Lister said:

"What, like everytime I take a leak I'm handling stolen goods."

Which reminded me of something Carrie Fisher has said over the years about how she signed over her likeness to George Lucas, so everytime I look in the mirror I owe George a couple of bucks (LOLZ gets me everytime)

I loved the whole concept of Officer Rimmer and was interesting the whole "Have/Have not" system that was written in which is (in these days quite an issue) there were certainly elements of Me2 and Rimmerworld - and to be honest ever since watching this episode its taken me several days to dry the mattress

The sequence with the Rimmer monster chasing after everyone reminded me of the Vinadloo Beast from DNA how they're running away from it - I actually don't know what was scarier, the beast or the more and more elitist Rimmer was getting;

As for the ending, yes, on first watch I was like "What?" then on the second viewing I actually applauded the tv because I realised just how clever it was of Doug to end like that:

Absolutely brilliant, reminded me of Terminator when Sarah Connor utters that line at the end and says "You're terminated!" then presses the button, that was a very dramatic scene - and then of course Rob & Doug at the end of Series 6 in Out of Time finished with a blast of the laser cannons from Starbug blowing up Starbug and FIN and that was one heck of a dramatic ending, this just echoes that and why I think it was brilliant Doug wrote it like that

On Thursday night after I had just finished watching it on Dave I remember I immediately thought I wasn't sure whether I liked it or not. I remember in series 8 of Doctor Who, the episode Kill the Moon gave me that immediate afterthought also but like with that new Who episode when I get that feeling it usually means I do like it. I feel overall Officer Rimmer does not reach the massive heights that Give and Take did but overall it is still a very good episode.

It's just it is in quite a number of ways an antithesis of the previous episode. Give and Take was piled with cleverness and was very cerebral but this although daft is IMHO good silliness. Kind of series 8 (but the better half) including some of the ideas of the early 90s Red Dwarfs but also with some of the feeling of the first two series especially in the way it is mostly set on Red Dwarf. In fact that is also why I feel it is very good is because it is an episode mostly set on the mother ship and like others have said it is good to see not only just more lifts and corridors but also other rooms e.g. the officers club. The set up at the start with Starbug firing at the ship with the bio-printer is welcome too because it is like series 4-6 Red Dwarf and I thought the model work, picture etc. looked excellent and a significant improvement on series 10 once again. In fact while it was not absolutely laugh out loud I thought the first scenes set on Starbug were pretty strong actually and I enjoyed Rimmer's flying/sex gags - IMHO although they were taken from a series 12 episode they were not really too incongruous with the opening of Officer Rimmer.

In terms of the rest of the story, despite the general silliness of this episode compared to the other three - Samsara and Give and Take especially - I thought the concept of the bio printer was quite clever and the opening scenes with the printer jam was not just rather hilarious but also recalled in my mind Kryten's auto-repair system's display in Terrorform. It was a good recall of how the technology in Red Dwarf compared to other sci-fi programmes like Star Trek, Doctor Who etc. is quite often pretty ridiculous and wacky, at the same time as introducing clever sci-fi concepts obviously for the humour's sake. Although Rimmer populating the rest of the ship with all sorts of under-Rimmers was quite reminiscent of Me2 and Rimmerworld obviously this new idea of bio-printing them ensured that the concept of multiple Rimmers had not gone stale IMHO. Meanwhile I thought that Kryten's talk with Lister about selling himself off for copies was quite clever sci-fi (the smart-arse Scousers in the call centre was one of the funniest lines in the episode too!) as well as Kryten's exposition about how all the other Rimmers were being absorbed by the Rimmer Monster.

But mainly this episode is about good silliness and The Rimmer Monster I thought was quite well designed - grotesque and funny all at once. In fact the Rimmer monster was like others have noticed a throwback to the curry monster in series 4's DNA. Although it is fairly similar, because series 4 was 25 years ago it is very welcome IMHO providing series 11 with yet more nostalgia.

The end of Officer Rimmer is obviously the most talked about and controversial aspect of the entire episode. Some people either don't mind it while slightly more find it too abrupt. I'm kind of caught in two minds about it. Initially I thought it was definitely a massive shock for it to end so fast but in a way it is kind of okay. I thought the pay-off where Rimmer gets himself demoted while simple was quite good and a logical step in the episode with all the Rimmers being attacked by the Rimmer monster. It is then the Rimmer monster being defeated that slightly more people are not too keen on. Using Rimmer as bait made for quite a simple pay off in defeating the enemy but it was at least made to have a bit more depth by the Rimmer monster closing the door so Rimmer was trapped in line of fire. I'm not sure when I watch it a second, third, fourth time etc. when the blu-ray is out what I will think of it but ultimately I think it might be just about satisfactory because really Lister getting the Rimmer monster to get his pen out to get the real Rimmer safely away and give him time to fire the bazookoid (Love having the bazookoids back btw!) was IMHO a bit like the equivalent of the curry monster being given a can of lager to defeat it. It added a bit more depth to the end so at the moment and like I said I don't know what I will think upon re-watch but that kind of can of lager equivalent has just about made it satisfactory for me in the end.

I remember when I was on the bus a couple of days ago the day after the episode aired and I was thinking about the end again and actually I was thinking it was quite good and like AJSmegFace says "dramatic." But I do feel while it might be okay really Doug has struggled with the endings to most episodes this series a bit. I do wonder whether because Craig for example has had DJ sets to go to straight after the filming nights that Doug has deliberately made the conclusions of most episodes quite fast or brief in order for both events to fit into his schedule. Maybe even some parts of the ending were not filmed - I knew that happened with one episode (Twentica I think). Unless it is just not so good editing of the earlier parts of the episode.

While the bottom line in terms of the ending was that it might well be okay but still abrupt I did enjoy most of the episode and the comedy was while not laugh out loud all the way through like the other episodes it was often pretty funny like with the officers club, lifts and corridors scenes etc. My highlights were the scene with the bio-printed crew member on the ship at the start having his head printed wrongly - like Bluey says that gag about the elephant man was the funniest of the episode while the dialogue where Rimmer jokes with Kryten about "call[ing] the midwife" was another absolute laugh out loud moment and classic Doug Naylor slapstick. I also enjoyed the scene where Rimmer has rigged the TV stations available to Lister and the Cat and it recalled Quarantine to me. As much as I thought series 10 was very good and although I thought the previous episodes of 11 were even funnier, this year's run of Red Dwarf has generally got far bigger laughs out of me than the 2012 run.

Although I would have to say I am not sure that Officer Rimmer fully justified the hype that it was even better yet again from the previous episode, it was still ultimately very good. Although I hope that Krysis and Can of Worms will be even better and more on the level of the first three shows of Red Dwarf 11, this felt like an episode which may well have a valid place in this 2016 run as it is a different kind of episode contrasting with the more complex first three by displaying a different kind of Red Dwarf humour - good silliness - and mostly set on Red Dwarf too for a change! Although the ending is somewhat abrupt (though quite possibly just about okay depending on how I feel after repeated viewings) my ultimate afterthoughts of this episode is that it was pretty entertaining once again.

I thought it was a fun episode. There were a few lame jokes that could've been better. Like when Rimmer says to Cpt Herring, "You look like a hideous 19th century circus freak!" I thought they could have written a funnier insult. Still, I think it's my favourite one of XI so far.

Bit of a weird episode but I liked it. Lots of funny bits, the best being the barbershop quartet, but agree that it lost its way in the last 5 mins and they forgot to include an ending but still a good episode.

I enjoyed this one muchly. A fine sci-fi idea with the bioprinter mixed with real life when the paper jams.

Great story plot for Barrie to get his teeth into which he does with great aplomb. Finally, Rimmer gets to live his dream and fulfils his destiny as a complete and utter smeghead!

Sliding down the officers' corridor with that smug look was brilliant.

I laughed more with this one than the previous three. That said, the previous three grew on me with second viewings, whereas Officer Rimmer diminished slightly. Didn't like Kryten humping Rimmer, but we had Lister on a vending machine before so I guess it's a visual gag that Naylor likes. Not my cup of tea though.

Enough's been said about the abrupt ending so I can't add anything there.

Didn't like Kryten humping Rimmer, but we had Lister on a vending machine before so I guess it's a visual gag that Naylor likes. Not my cup of tea though.

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I'm surprised more people didn't find this funnier. It was similar to Lister's Polymorph shrinking underpants, and Kryten "humping" him while trying to take them off. Though one of the funniest bits about that was Rimmer walking in

Didn't like Kryten humping Rimmer, but we had Lister on a vending machine before so I guess it's a visual gag that Naylor likes. Not my cup of tea though.

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I'm surprised more people didn't find this funnier. It was similar to Lister's Polymorph shrinking underpants, and Kryten "humping" him while trying to take them off. Though one of the funniest bits about that was Rimmer walking in

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Yes, and the funniest bit during the vending machine humping was also Rimmer walking in! Mind you, that whole 'walking in on someone and misconstruing the situation' has been done twice now, so maybe it was time for a new take on that joke. I suppose in this case it's left up to the viewer to decide whether what they've seen is perhaps a bit rude or not - though you'd have to be a bit naive to think not.

I didn't write much about this episode because I was ill but I totally loved it! It's definitely the one that's made me laugh the most, although I'd rate Give & Take slightly higher. Think my favourite part has to be Rimmer chucking the champagne in his bio-printed copy's face and then draining the glass! That's just so Rimmery.

For me, I think I found this a poor episode because it seems Rimmer's character is regressing. The others are allowed to develop and grow, and that had happened with rimmer up to X but this series seems to have gone backwards on that.

Didn't like Kryten humping Rimmer, but we had Lister on a vending machine before so I guess it's a visual gag that Naylor likes. Not my cup of tea though.

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I'm surprised more people didn't find this funnier. It was similar to Lister's Polymorph shrinking underpants, and Kryten "humping" him while trying to take them off. Though one of the funniest bits about that was Rimmer walking in

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I liked the scene in Polymorph, and I think it worked with the vending machine because it tied in with the theme of Lister's loneliness. Even then it seemed a bit of a cheap gag for a sit-com these days. In Officer Rimmer it didn't tie in to the theme, nobody walked in and commented, but it was thankfully brief enough to ignore. Not really the kind of physical comedy I want to see as a regular part of Red Dwarf. Is just seems to belong in a different era of comedy.

Didn't like Kryten humping Rimmer, but we had Lister on a vending machine before so I guess it's a visual gag that Naylor likes. Not my cup of tea though.

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I'm surprised more people didn't find this funnier. It was similar to Lister's Polymorph shrinking underpants, and Kryten "humping" him while trying to take them off. Though one of the funniest bits about that was Rimmer walking in

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I honestly never liked that bit, so that's probably why I'm equally unimpressed by it basically being repeated twice. It wasn't terrible, but I've just never found the part of the boxer shorts scene where Lister is supposed to look like he's humping Kryten at all funny and it's a massively over-rated scene IMO.

Not fond of the promotion and de-motion logic in the episode where a bio-printed captain can promote Rimmer just by saying it to him and then its 100% official and all it takes to hit the reset button is rimmer to say he resigns, it just feels lazy